Today I was sad to see a Google Alert re. the Breakers indicating that Jen Nobis is out for the season (torn ACL). Sounds like she had been working her butt off in the off-season, which makes this all the sadder.  She had 2 goals in 11 games for a generally lackluster Breakers’ offense … and was clearly hoping to step it up a notch in 2010.  I wish her all the best as she comes back from this devastating wrench-in-the-works.

I also found, noodling around on Damallsvenskan Soapbox, another nifty site – Women’s Soccer Weekly – great to scan for soccer news (and will add it to the sidebar here)!  WSW is where I found this story about Jill Oakes, whose pregnancy is taking her off the Red Stars’ 2010 roster (where she was a defender).  Maybe that’s why they went for Whitney Engen in the college draft.  I know I’m hoping to see Emma Hayes make some things happen for the Red Stars this year … and yeah, hoping to see the same from Tony!

On the political front, there is, of course, the whole Tea Bagger Convention brouhahahahahaha and the Divine Ms. P’s increasing visibility.

At the same time, MSNBC has posted the searchable collection of Todd Palin e-mails – at least to the extent they have been released.  Wonder what this one is about … sounds fishy, doesn’t it?  It’s pretty cool … search away!  And here are some gems from MSNBC:

The e-mails that were released open a curtain on the behind-the-scenes preoccupations of the Palins, particularly the flash points of family and the media, personal finances and state finances.

• The governor coached her staff on how to disguise the $3,252.35 cost of electrical work at the mansion to hook up her new tanning bed.
• Palin and her staff stewed over the refusal of the state Public Safety Department to provide a plane so their children could fly to Todd’s family’s home in Dillingham; after all, they were going to attend a bill signing, so the travel requests could be justified. Sarah Palin called the decision “outrageous,” and an aide said it provides “a great excuse to privatize” the governor’s jet service.
• The manager of the Palins’ travel schedule searched for a public event to use as justification (“I just need one“) to charge the state for an airplane flight for Palin’s daughter, Willow, who had already made the trip but missed the event given as its justification.
• When Sarah Palin complained that the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner wrote a critical editorial after she did them the favor of meeting with the editorial board, Todd Palin advised the press chief to “take the news miner off the press release address list for a few days, see how long it takes them to realize their not on the list.”
• “Man, that gossip crap bugs me,” Sarah Palin wrote after the Anchorage Daily News wrote about mansion repairs in its Alaska Ear political column. “Any time it has anything to do with home or family, it’s irritating.” A press aide apologized, saying the columnist did not to call check out stories before publishing. The residence director added, “Reminds me of junior high school, where hormonal teenagers are always looking for the drama. … I’ll do my best to avoid giving them any news nuggets.”

And since Sarah is in the news, I want to share this brief snippet from Arianna Huffington … in case you needed further illustration of Sarah’s shallow hypocrisy.

On a MUCH more positive note, we celebrate JPE’s birthday today at the Canterbury Shaker Village (yummy brunch).  Happy B-day!

And here’s the Women’s B-ball schedule (Alice) for the next couple of days …

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7
Connecticut at Louisville……….11:00am……….ESPNU
Northeastern at Towson……….11:00am……….Comcast SportsNet/Comcast Network
Texas Tech at Texas……….1:00……….ESPNU
Ole Miss at LSU……….1:00……….SEC Network
South Carolina at Georgia……….1:00……….CSS
Tulsa at UTEP……….1:00……….CBS College Sports/Time Warner Cable
Kansas State at Kansas……….2:00……….Metro
Auburn at Alabama……….2:00……….Fox Sports Net
Drake at Missouri State……….2:05……….Mediacom
Southern California at Stanford……….3:00……….Fox Sports Net
Virginia Tech at NC State……….3:00……….Fox Sports Net/SunSports/Comcast SportsNet
Iowa State at Missouri……….3:00……….Fox Sports Net
Richmond at Xavier……….3:00……….ESPNU
Michigan State at Iowa……….3:30……….Big Ten Network

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8
UMES at North Carolina A&T ……….3:30……….ESPNU
Virginia at Maryland……….6:00……….Fox Sports Net/SunSports/Comcast SportsNet
North Carolina at Duke……….6:00……….ESPN2
Gardner-Webb at Liberty……….6:00……….Flames Television Network
Gardner-Webb at Liberty……….6:00……….SportSouth
Tennessee at Vanderbilt……….8:00……….ESPN2

So, there’s something else that I wanted to write about.  What the heck was it?  Something about a football game, I think.

If it comes to me, I’ll let you know!